Today was a jam-packed, thirteen-hour extravaganza of stuff, that’s about the only way to put it. We started with one of the last remaining walks in our Walking L.A. book, and one of the shortest, as well, a half-mile stroll around Leimert Park Village, a little business district about six miles south of us. We enjoyed the quiet walk (starting around 8:30 in the morning) and really enjoyed the homemade “honey drip” biscuits at Papa West, where we had a tasty breakfast after the walk. We killed some time in the bookstore behind the Nuart – things don’t look good there; they’ve started laying books on their sides, and still there are dozens of empty shelves – before starting our day of house-hunting. We finished up around 1:00 or so, after looking at condos and houses, with some nice possibilities, and a familiar mix of frustration-inducing trade-offs. Nice house? Not-so-great neighborhood. Nice condo? No outdoor space. Nice yard? I can’t imagine it without the seven cribs and yapping dog? We’ll keep looking, and keep keeping our fingers crossed.

After dropping Aimee off for an afternoon of work, I headed to Santa Monica for the second annual Vernacular Photography Fair, which was a nice little event for dealers and fans of snapshots, anonymous photos, and photobooth photos, which is why I went. I met some of the dealers and other like-minded folks, and set up some things that might make for some interesting projects down the road. I also had a nice conversation catching up with Anne in Colorado, as it had been actually years since we last talked.

I picked Aimee up after a few hours at the fair, and we headed to Abbot Kinney in Venice for a stroll and dinner. I’d never really been in many of the shops on the street, so it was fun to have a chance to peek in and browse the high-end design goods at a bunch of the stores along the street. We had a drink at Lilly’s French Cafe & Bar and then enjoyed a delicious dinner of tapas at Primitivo a few doors down. The cheese plate was really great, the pear salad was excellent, and the hazelnut chocolate cake with a tiny mug of hot cocoa and marshmallows was a great way to top off the night.